Microplastics and Nanoplastics: Cellular Toxicity and Health Implications

Dear Colleagues,

The widespread production and environmental persistence of plastic materials have led to the global dissemination of microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs), raising growing concerns about their potential impacts on human health. Once considered primarily an environmental issue, plastic particle contamination is now recognized as an emerging public health challenge due to increasing evidence of human exposure through ingestion, inhalation, and dermal contact. Microplastics and nanoplastics have been detected in food, drinking water, air, and even in human biological samples, including blood, lung tissue, and placenta. Their small size, large surface area, and capacity to adsorb environmental pollutants and chemical additives enhance their biological reactivity and potential toxicity. At the cellular level, MPs and NPs have been associated with oxidative stress, inflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, membrane damage, genotoxicity, and altered cellular signaling pathways. Moreover, their ability to cross biological barriers raises concerns regarding systemic distribution and long-term accumulation in tissues.

Despite rapid advances in this field, significant knowledge gaps remain regarding dose–response relationships, mechanisms of cellular uptake, intracellular fate, and chronic health outcomes. Standardized methodologies for detection, characterization, and toxicological assessment are also urgently needed to ensure comparability across studies.

This Special Issue aims to provide a comprehensive and interdisciplinary platform for cutting-edge research addressing the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying microplastic and nanoplastic toxicity, as well as their broader implications for human health. Papers published in IJMS (International Journal of Molecular Sciences) are encouraged to include results at the molecular level. We welcome original research articles, reviews, and methodological studies focusing on in vitro and in vivo models, human biomonitoring, mechanistic toxicology, epidemiological evidence, risk assessment, and innovative analytical approaches. By integrating expertise from toxicology, environmental science, molecular biology, medicine, and public health, this Special Issue seeks to advance our understanding of plastic particle exposure and to inform future regulatory strategies and mitigation policies aimed at safeguarding human health.

Dr. Gaetana Gambino
Guest Editor

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